For Cory Matthews his life before he had his children was a journey, he had met his wife at a young age and against all odds he was able to keep her in his life. She was the light in my life, yes the constant jokes about his friendship with his best friend Shawn Hunter were always following him but he had kept them going. His wife Topanga had his heart and soul and he knew that she knew this. His children also held a part of his heart that he had never thought existed until his daughter Riley was born.
The year she was born made him nervous and that may have translated into how he had raised her, his son on the other hand wasn't as protected as his daughter, it is easily seen when the two of them are next to one another. His son was freer when it came to showing his talents, while his daughter struggled, and for that Cory was fearful of how he had raised his daughter. Yet when he looked at her, as a smiling happy young lady he was still proud of the girl who would do anything for her friends. She stands up for what she believed in and makes sure that everyone had a say in what happened around them.
Then when she reached seventh grade everything started to change, when a boy came into her life and it made Cory nervous. He didn't see Lucas as a threat, but he was reminded of what his father in law had once said to him that he hadn't been afraid of Cory, but he should have been. Cory had taken those words to heart when the cowboy from Texas showed up in his class, and Riley had been smitten by him. With every day that passed the relationship between the two had grown and Cory's heart couldn't take the fact that he couldn't be afraid of the boy, until he heard about what had happened in Texas. After that he was afraid of what Lucas was doing to his daughter's heart. It frightened him every day because if she was willing to do what she had done, what was Lucas willing to do to make her happy.
Once the whole triangle debacle had ended, Cory's fears grew and although he usually stayed up late to grade papers, he found himself not sleeping very well. Thoughts of boys in his daughter's room, and dates, and kissing started to freak him out. He kept thinking that she was too young for any of that. So when his beloved wife told him to go to the doctor and talk about his problems he did what she said, because he was more afraid of his wife then he was of a doctor. After one very long session about his sleeping problem and his worries about his daughter the doctor prescribed some sleeping pills for the first week just to try them out.
Each night he had dreams about his daughter while she was growing up, about his daddy daughter dates, how they would make pancakes for breakfast. Small things that made him remember that she was a nice girl who was just growing up. Except on the night he dreamt of making pancakes with little Riley, his little sunshine, he had walked into the kitchen and started making pancakes. His wife had woken up in time to sound the alarm and pull his family out of the house.
"Cory," she said after they had stood outside while the fire department assessed the damage. "I love you but you have to stop taking those sleeping pills. Every night you wake up in a different room. Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"
He sighed and looked at the love of his life, "I'm scared about how Riley is growing up, I don't want to lose my little girl."
She pulled him away from the kids and sat him down on a nearby stoop, "Cory she's just fine, that girl will be taking over the world one day, you shouldn't worry so much. She's a good kid."
"I know I guess I wasn't ready, for boys, and dating," he sighed as she put her arm around him.
"You think our parents were ready?"
"Doubt it, but they had practice before they got us," he said thinking of their older siblings. "I guess this means that we'll be prepared for when Auggie gets to that stage."
"I'm pretty sure he's already married," she said looking over and seeing Auggie holding onto Ava while Riley watched over them. "She grows on you."
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Riley couldn't believe what was happening, one minute she was in her room sleeping, dreaming of little purple cats, and flowery fields the next her mother was calling for a family emergency and there was smoke everywhere. She didn't know the details, except that her father had started cooking in the kitchen while he was sleepwalking. She didn't understand why it was that her father was sleepwalking in the first place. Her parents were sitting on the steps of the next brownstone talking, while Riley watched as the firefighters walked in and out of her childhood home. Once they were done they told them that the fire damage had only occurred in the kitchen and living room areas, and that they would have to replace the furniture but since the upstairs rooms were closed the smoke hadn't reached there. Although they did recommend repainting all of the rooms and washing the sheets and clothes. Her mother worked quickly to make sure to hire people to work on the apartment so that they wouldn't be out of their home and sent the them to get clothes to wear for a few days while the cleaners worked to get the smell out of the house.
As they went to a nearby hotel the four of them were situated in a room and exhaustion took over, as Riley fell asleep in the same bed as her little brother. They had been awake since two in the morning and it was now almost six. Both kids were excused from going to school and her parents called out from work. When they all woke up a few hours later her parents took Auggie with them to the park and Riley went to the café to get her homework from her friends.
"Riley why weren't you in school today?" Farkle asked as she sat in her usual seat next to Lucas, her friends all looked up at her.
"Well my dad nearly burned down our apartment last night so we had to stay at a hotel," she said.
"What?" Maya said looking around the room to see the shocked faces of their group. "How could your dad do that?"
"That's what we're trying to find out, all I know is that his doctor gave me these sleeping pills to help him sleep, and the next thing I know is that he's burning down the kitchen," she sighed thinking about her father. "I really should pay more attention to him."
"Well maybe there's a scientific explanation for this?" Lucas said looking to Farkle and Smackle. "How about it you two can you figure this out?"
"Knowing Mr. Matthews and his need to teach everything based on his daughter and her friends I believe that she maybe the cause of it," Smackle said, as they all looked at her in shock.
"Do you really believe that?" Riley said feeling depressed about the possibility that she may have something to do with her father's newest mood. "I need to talk to my parents."
"I'll go with you," Maya said standing up.
"Maya a much as I would love to have you there, maybe I need to do this alone," she said looking around at her friends. "Maybe it's time for a little daddy daughter day."
"Okay but call me if you need me," Maya said hugging her best friend.
"Can you guys email me my homework please?"
"Don't worry we will," Farkle said as Riley stood and walked out of the café.
Lucas followed her outside and stopped her once they were away from the café windows, "Riley why didn't you call when it happened?"
"I didn't think about it, I didn't even have my phone," she said looking down at the pavement. "All I could think about was that the house was burning and getting out through the bay window."
She hadn't realized that she was crying until Lucas pulled her into his arms. "Everything will be okay," he said to her.
"I didn't want to lose my home Lucas, but it was so scary to watch all of those firefighters go in and out of the apartment, it was scary to watch my little brother as we slowly climbed down the fire escape thinking that we were going to lose everything."
"I think you should talk to your parents about this, your dad is probably having this conversation with Auggie and your mom, maybe that's what's missing?"
"Thanks Lucas, and please make sure that Maya stays with you guys, I don't want her to see the apartment until it's fixed."
"I'll have Zay and Farkle distract her and keep her busy, and I'll see you in school tomorrow. Don't forget to call us, we're here for you."
Riley nodded before she pushed away from him, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and walked off to the only park she knew her parents would take her brother. She thought about how her father was always there when she needed him, but now that he was going through something she was afraid that she couldn't be there for him.
As she walked into the park she saw her parents by the swings with Auggie, they were trying to see who got up higher, Riley couldn't help but smile at the sight of her family being themselves. As she approached them she looked at her father and signaled for him to come and talk to her. Instead of waiting for the swing to stop he jumped off and landed on his legs before crumbling to the ground.
"I don't think I'm young anymore," he said as she rushed towards him.
"What made you think that you could do it in the first place?" Riley asked.
"Don't know, I just figured I could," he said smiling at her. "What do you need Riley?"
"I was wondering if we could talk, just you and me," she said pulling him off the ground. He nodded and walked her over to a nearby bench as he rubbed his legs.
"Talk to me," he said as he sat down.
"Am I the reason why you can't sleep?"
"You got to the point really fast didn't you," he said looking down at the ground. She stared at him until he let out a laugh. "There may be a possibility that you maybe a piece of why I'm like this right now."
"Daddy, I'm almost sixteen, talk to me like the young adult I'm growing up to be."
"I just feel like I'm losing you," he said.
"You're not."
"Yeah except you're dating, and you're always with your friends, so I remember when you were little and how we used to do things together."
"You were sleepwalking because of the medicine, so of course you start doing things."
"Like making your favorite pancakes."
"And since you were asleep you nearly burned down the apartment."
"Yeah that was my fault, the doctor says that I should probably get everything out and of course I held it in because as much as I love you, I know you're growing up into a wonderful young lady. But I miss the small things we used to do."
"Did this start the year we stopped getting on the cyclone?"
"Maybe, but I've seen you grow so much."
"Okay how about this, once every month you and me have a little daughter daddy day, we can go to the zoo, or a museum, we can go to Coney Island."
"What about your friends Riley, your life?"
"Just us, and maybe Mom and Auggie, we can have a family day, because we're better together than we are apart," she said hugging her father. "And maybe you stop taking those pills because I was so scared yesterday."
"I will, and I think it would be great to have a family day, maybe I can get to know my daughter as she grows up."
They sat there and watcher her mother play with her little brother, as the park began to fill with people from around the neighborhood. The sky was slowly turning pink as twilight came, it felt peaceful for Riley as she walked with her family back to the hotel they were staying at. They had dinner and talked to one another inside of their hotel room.
It took two weeks before their apartment was ready for them to go back, the living room had to be redone completely, it didn't look like it had before. But Riley knew that this new place, was the start of helping her father get to know her. For him to have a piece of mind so he wouldn't have to worry so much about her growing up too fast, even though she wasn't going to change, she was already her best Riley, she just needed to learn how to keep herself from failing herself.